Dominican Republic “Conacado” – Fair Trade & Organic

We don’t have much of this left, and none available as full bags, but I still wanted you to be able to have some available wholesale.

I am very pleased to be able to offer this cocoa bean. It is from the Conacado co-op in the Dominican Republic. They are Fair Trade Certified, Organically certified, Rain Forrest Alliance Certified and are a general hybrid Trinatario. If that sounds at all familiar, I am not at all surprised. It is one of the Single Origin chocolates that Dagoba produces. This is the same bean. It has been one of my favorite commercial chocolates and I have been wanting to carry it for some time, partly so I can have some direct comparisons between my chocolate making and a commercial chocolate. It is a luscious, earthy bean with a lot of complexity. There is no particular astringency, has a good clean flavor and actually reminds me a bit of the 2004 crop of Carenero Superior. Partly that has to do with the preparation and partly the flavor. There is quite a bit of variation in bean size, with a fair number of small and/or flat beans. This really does not negatively affect the flavor profile, and I am virtually positive it lends to the complexity. The only real affect will be is if you are using a Crankandstein cocoa mill. Some of the smaller beans may not crack initially or at all. In that case, either pick them out or use the Champion juicer to remove the husk. Due to the size variation, you don’t really want to roast this bean quickly or the smaller beans may get over roasted once the majority of the beans are properly roasted.